I have counseled many an agent whose time was consumed and who felt that he couldn’t address all of the priorities of the day (or of the agency). Most of them devote well over 50 hours a week to their agencies, whether owners or not. They feel responsible for their clients’ well-being and guilty when things don’t get accomplished. Yet, in analysis of their activities, we find that they feel like gerbils in a cage – running as fast as they can and never realizing that they are running on a never-ending wheel. These agents are Running In Place!
Phase IV Agents – The Dying Gerbils
Some of these agents are already ‘burnt out’. They are working hard to plug the holes in the dike and to minimize problems that are slowly burning out of control. For these agents, their career has turned into a life sentence and their agencies have turned into their prisons. Yes, they may make a good living (or not), but life is not worth living if they are told that they must continue on this same path. Phase IV agents are good acquisition targets and are overdue for Perpetuation Planning.
Phase III Agents – The Energetic Gerbils
Other agents are not yet at the point of burn out, but are heading in that direction. For a few decades of life, the headiness of managing crises and putting out fires is exhilarating. They go home dead tired every night. They sometimes feel that they haven’t accomplished much but convince themselves that were it not for their efforts, the agency’s performance would suffer. They begin blaming their employees for not doing their jobs and not caring for the clients. They feel that they are the only people who care enough to keep clients satisfied. These agents have long lost their ways and have no concept of the true priorities of either their lives or of their businesses.
Phase II Agents – Recognizing the Cage
The agents that can be recovered are one step short of the Phase III Agents. They are the agents who are terribly frustrated that they are working very hard, but not on the activities that they know are most productive for their agencies. They have transitioned from active sales people to administration and servicing, unable to pry themselves loose from their desks to even see their largest clients, not to mention visiting prospects. But they are still aware enough of their positions to recognize their dilemmas and may seek to take action. These agents realize that they don’t control their own time and priorities.
Phase I Agents – The RUNNERS.
We have encountered Phase I agents in their 20’s and in their 60’s. Phase I is a state of mind, not an age or generational state. The Phase I agent has his eye fixed on the target of customer satisfaction and sales. He is sometimes hungry and sales-oriented because he still needs the creature comforts supplied by higher income. However, he is often already successful and now considers sales a game (albeit with good returns for a win) and a challenge to keep winning. His motivation is pride in his personal service and in the service provided by his agency to both clients and carriers. The common thread of all Phase I agents is that they are always focused on growth and customer satisfaction and gather a staff around them that are just as dedicated as they are to those ends.
Runners are avid record-keepers because focused activities can be measured. Phase II agents may also still be keeping records, but Phase III and Phase IV agents have often abandoned record-keeping as useless activities for which they don’t have time. The real reason is that they know what the records will show them about their performance.
So, Phase I agents have almost a religious fervor about accurate records of suspects, prospects, sales calls and sales within the sales cycle and they try to keep enough activity going into the top of the funnel to yield the desired sales results. They know that sales success is a combination of technical and sales skills and disciplined pursuit of the “numbers” (keeping the number of suspects and prospects high enough to yield the appropriate number and quality of sales). Phase I agents also force their staff to keep meticulous records of individual and department productivity and backlogs, understanding that customer satisfaction is built on doing what the customer wants and needs, in an accurate and timely fashion.
Take measure of yourself. ARE YOU RUNNING THE RACE OR RUNNING IN PLACE? And, if you are not in Phase I what are you doing to break open the cage and regain your focus? Call us (856 779 2430) if you would like an analysis of your operation and how to Run Your Own Race instead of participating in a race controlled by others.